David Cameron stayed up all night negotiating and still can't get a deal with the EU

Brussels (AFP) - Weary EU leaders take up the cudgels for a
second day Friday, still with "a lot of work to do" to prevent
Britain becoming the first country to crash out of the bloc.

Talks ran through the night in Brussels as officials struggled to
thrash out difficult compromises needed to get everyone on board,
with Prime Minister David Cameron running into serious opposition
to some of his reform demands.

Under pressure from eurosceptics in his own Conservative Party
and a hostile right-wing press, Cameron is seeking sweeping
reforms to the 28-member bloc before putting Britain's membership
to an in-out referendum.

Cameron had earlier urged his EU peers on day one of the tense
two-day meeting to reach a "credible" reform deal that would
allow him to hold this referendum in June.

But the British demands have experienced serious faultlines in
the EU, also sharply divided on how to tackle its biggest
migration crisis since World War II.

And in the early hours of Friday, EU President Donald Tusk warned
there was much more to do to bridge these sharp differences.

"For now I can only say that we have made some progress but a lot
needs to be done," Tusk told a brief press conference before
rushing off to a fresh round of overnight meetings with key
leaders.

British
Prime Minister David Cameron prepares to hold a briefing during a
European Union leaders summit in Brussels December 18,
2015.Reuters

Earlier in the week, EU officials had hoped Friday would begin
with an "English Breakfast," with a deal served up for final
approval.

However, as talks got bogged down, that became an "English
Brunch" and now an "English Lunch" is on the menu.

"Work ongoing on revised UK/EU settlement. Next round of
bilateral (meetings) at 1100. 'English Lunch' foreseen at 1330
(1230 GMT)," the European Council said.

'Goodwill' from Merkel

Cameron appears to have won the crucial support of German
Chancellor Angela Merkel who said she has shared many of his
wishes "for years."

"The agreement's not easy to take for many but goodwill is there.
We are ready to compromise because advantages are higher than
disadvantages when there is Brexit," Merkel told reporters,
referring to the popular term for a British exit from the EU.

Others were less accommodating, especially French President
Francois Hollande who insisted Britain could not expect to have a
veto over other EU member states who want to press ahead with the
European project.

Reuters

Hollande said earlier that he wanted an agreement and that it was
"possible" -- but warned that "no country can have the right to
veto" eurozone states.

Cameron also ran into headwinds from Belgian Prime Minister
Charles Michel, who said he was "very determined" Britain should
not get a free ride and opt out on the EU's goal of "ever closer
union".

The Czech premier meanwhile leads a group of four Eastern
European countries that object to Britain's request for a limit
to welfare benefit payments for EU migrants working in Britain
for four years.

Brussels has offered an "emergency brake" to limit benefits for
new migrants for four years, which Britain could invoke if its
welfare system is overwhelmed by the inflow of workers, as it
believes it has been.

But Poland and other eastern European member states who have
hundreds of thousands of citizens in Britain bitterly oppose such
a change, saying it would discriminate against them and undermine
the EU's core principle of freedom of movement.

File
photograph of a European Union flag flying in front of a Union
flag in Perth, ScotlandThomson
Reuters

'Live and let live'

Cameron says he will back a 'Yes' vote in the referendum if he
can cut a deal in Brussels.

Failing that, he has said all options are open, refusing to rule
out the possibility that Britain could become the first country
to leave the EU in its more than 60-year history.

In an impassioned speech to his colleagues, as the summit began,
Cameron called for a "sort of live and let live" approach to
reach a deal.

He urged them to secure "a package that is credible with the
British people", adding that the issue of Britain's place in
Europe "has been allowed to fester for too long" and that there
was now a chance "to settle this issue for a generation".

Britons voted overwhelmingly in favour of staying in the EU in a
1975 referendum, just two years after joining, but the issue of
"Europe" is never far from the top of the British political
agenda.

Recent opinion polls suggest a narrow lead for those who want to
stay in the EU but there does seem to have been a modest increase
in the 'No' camp. Many voters are thought to be undecided.